Oakdale MMA fighter Michael McDonald waited nearly six months for his third Ultimate Fighting Championship bout, but took only 56 seconds to finish it in front of a live national television audience on Saturday.

You just never know how your day is going to go while on the water. I've been out on the most beautiful days where everything seemed perfect and never got so much as a bite. I've also been out in some of the worst weather and experienced some of the best fishing. There are so many unknown factors out there that it's almost impossible not to think of someone being lucky. One of my most eye opening experiences came when I fished as a co-angler during a Bassmaster Tournament on Lake Amistad. I was able to fish ...

As a beginning fisherman I only had one or two lures I was confident in and used those lures regardless of the weather or time of year. I didn't catch fish every time out but do remember doing okay, some days were just better than others. Just the other day while cleaning out some of my old gear I ran across some of those "old faithfuls," as my father calls them. There they sat collecting dust on the bottommost of my tackle box. My immediate thought was of disbelief, as they looked so dated. I then glanced towards one ...

Martin Sandoval should never have a problem with loose-fitting pants. The Oakdale High graduate and Oakdale MMA fighter successfully defended his Rebel Fighter championship belt with a victory over Randy Rodoni at Rebel Fighter "Annihilation" on Aug. 13. The win improved Sandoval's MMA record to a sharp 8-3 with back-to-back victories.

The Spears Southwest Tour thundered into Stockton 99 speedway this past weekend for race No. 7 of the 10-race series season schedule. The Jackson Rancheria 135 event looked to be a very competitive race, with 21 cars qualifying on the short quarter-mile oval and the crowd was not disappointed. Coming into the event, Jacob Gomes, the phenomenal young driver from Manteca (and crowd favorite), held onto a slight lead in the series season points.

August 24, 2011|
Mike Burghardt
Special To The Leader
|Regional Sports

One of Oakdale's top young mixed martial artists, 'Bad' Brad McDonald added one more tally for the win column during a battle with fight veteran Sergio Quinones at the "Let The Chips Fall" Tachi Fight Palace 10 card in Lemoore earlier this month. With Quinones gunning for his fourth win in six fights, McDonald landed a first round armbar submission three minutes and 36 seconds into the fight. McDonald's career numbers improved to 7-1 with the win, his fifth victory in a row.